Mom In Translation
After feeling like he belonged more in Japan than the USA, an American 6-year-old drew the Japanese flag when asked to draw the flag of his home country. Autumn Barnes hide caption
After feeling like he belonged more in Japan than the USA, an American 6-year-old drew the Japanese flag when asked to draw the flag of his home country.
Autumn BarnesWe're capping off our third season with a story from one of our listeners.
Sometimes you feel like a stranger in the place you're from. But what if you were to visit a foreign country and realize you fit in so much better there? This is a story about a 6-year-old American boy who moved with his family to Japan, and felt at home for the first time. But the more Japanese he tried to become, the more his American mom struggled to figure out her new role in his life. And to help him truly belong, she had to become a new kind of parent.
Listen to hear how two years in Japan changed them as a family.
Further reading and listening:
- If you want to hear more parenting stories from different cultures check out NPR's How To Raise A Human Series
- Curious about the cultural influences on parenting around the world? Check out the book Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited by Joseph Tobin, Yeh Hsueh and Mayumi Karasawa
To listen to more of the show, check out our previous episodes. And make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you can stay in the loop for the next season of Rough Translation.